Interview with Harvey Stein

Some might consider Harvey Stein a jack-of-all-trades. He is after all, a professional teacher, lecturer, author, curator, and photographer. Based in New York City, Harvey currently teaches at the International Center of Photography. He is also the Director of Photography at the Umbrella Gallery of Arts in Manhattan.

Harvey’s talent for street photography, and photography in general, is evidenced by the fact that his photographs have been widely exhibited in the United States and Europe. In fact, Harvey turned several of his street photography projects into successful books. One example is his work at Coney Island. Since the 1970s, Harvey has been photographing subjects found at Coney Island with his two Leica M4 cameras and a Canon 5D. His approach? “I am not really interested in candid shooting. I want my subject to be aware of me, to acknowledge me as I acknowledge them so that we have a dialogue, a give and take, an ebb and flow”, he says. He finds the curious variety of interesting and eccentric characters at Coney Island, as well as their reactions to one another, inspiring.

As a teacher and as someone who recognizes that photography can be a “lonely endeavour”, Harvey was happy to share with us, as he already has with countless students over the years, some interesting stories and important things he has learned after taking street photos for several decades.

To to hear our conversation with Harvey click the audio player below.